Developers at the recently created Google game studio on February 1 were surprised when they were informed that the studios would be closed, according to four sources with knowledge of what happened. Just the week before, Google Stadia vice president and general manager Phil Harrison emailed staff praising the “huge progress” their studios have made so far.
Major layoffs were announced a few days later, part of an obvious pattern of dishonest and forward-thinking Stadia leadership by the company’s developers, many of whom had devoted their lives and careers to into the team.
“[Stadia Games and Entertainment] Significant progress has been made in building a diverse and talented team and establishing a strong line of Stadia exclusive games, ”read Harrison ‘s email of January 27, according to sources. “We will shortly be confirming an SG&E investment envelope which will inform the SG&E and 2021 strategy [objectives and key results]. ”
Google declined to comment.
Five days later, Harrison seemed to have completely turned back, announcing in a public blog post Stadia Games and Entertainment head Jade Raymond left the company and Google did not “invest further in bringing content apart from our in-house SG&E development team.”
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Stadia developers learned the news, was first reported by Kotaku, at almost the same time as everyone else via email and conference call with Harrison. The outbreak came after a grim year already working through the pandemic. It was in his memory Launch Stadia itself, which appeared in a hurry and left out many features that were encouraged at the time of the service ‘s launch, just to be added months later. In this case, however, the Stadia developers themselves were the ones affected by the botched planning.
Released in November 2019, Stadia initially had a problem because of its monetization model and lack of games. The technology was robust, but as a content platform, it was lacking. Strong first-party games may have changed that. Google announced in 2019 the creation of a Montreal- and Los Angeles-based game studio as well as the hiring of celebrities assassin’s Creed EA Motive Studios producer and general manager Jade Raymond to oversee their development. Google seemed to be there the long way, so it wasn’t.
“I am proud of the team we built at Stadia Games and Entertainment and the innovative work on unique games for the stage,” said Raymond. Kotaku in a statement shortly after announcing the closure. “It was a difficult decision to take a new opportunity, and I will always be grateful to this team for all that we have learned and achieved together. ”
Developers had to wait three days after receiving the news to share their upheaval and harassment with Harrison in a second conference call on February 4. This call was followed by Q&A controversial where the Stadia boss objected to his email from just the previous week. which suggested nothing but wholesale closure of the studios. Harrison expressed his remorse for the false statements made in his previous email, according to four sources familiar with the call. When asked what had changed from the previous week, Harrison admitted that he had nothing and said to those on the call, “We knew. ”
One source described the Q&A as an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to pull some sort of accountability from Stadia’s management.
“I think people just wanted the truth of what happened,” the source said. “It simply came to our notice then. If you started this studio and hired a hundred or so of those people, no one starts that just to leave in a year or so, right? You can’t play a game in that time … We had a multi-year peace of mind, and now we don’t have that. “
The source said the Q&A was “not good.”
It’s still unclear why Google decided to abandon the first-party studio it started building less than two years earlier. In his blog post, Harrison cited the rising costs in game development as a factor.
“Creating best-in-class games from the ground up takes many years and a huge investment, and the cost goes up dramatically,” he wrote.
In his Q&A on Thursday with staff, he highlighted Microsoft ‘s purchase spree and planned to acquire Bethesda software later this year as one of the factors that led Google to decide to launch the book. closure about original game development. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, is a nearly trillion-dollar company and roughly equal to Microsoft when it comes to revenue and profit, according to a 2020 study by Forbes.
Elsewhere through the Q&A, Harrison seemed to suggest that the chronic pandemic was to blame, according to one source. The effects of Covid-19 have been devastating, involving nearly half a million deaths in the U.S. alone. But it has also brought many relief in gaming as they are social and distance it inspired the bottom lines of many big game companies as a result.
For some, the closure of the studio and how they were communicated to staff was a reflection of the ways in which game development at Stadia was mismanaged, three sources said Kotaku. This included very poor resources, difficulty in obtaining essential hardware and software, and a frozen headline through 2020 after the outbreak of the pandemic, despite the goal. finally delivering several original vessels in the coming years.
So far, sources said, Google is looking to find work for abstract employees elsewhere in the company. However, it is difficult to do that because Google traditionally employs generalists, and game development requires a very specialized skill set.
Developers hoped the Stadia game studio would survive its affairs, if not for any other reason because Google could, in theory at least, shoot through hundreds of millions trying to high a new play platform with unique content. Instead, it ended up firing through the trust of some of the approximately 150 developers affected by the sudden change in management. Now, the remaining Stadia staff have to pick up the pieces while asking how they can trust leadership and how anyone can trust Stadia.